Strategy Builder

Study Notes:

Investors may use the Strategy Builder to easily create multi-leg options strategies from within the Option chain. To get started, the user may open the Option Chains from the Quote page.  

Locate the Strategy Builder toggle to the right of the option chain selectors. Activate the Strategy Builder by clicking on the toggle.

When activated, the right-side Price Panel with order buttons is replaced by the Strategy Builder interface. 

To add legs to your strategy, click the bid (for a sell) or ask (for a buy) at a specific strike price. By default, call options are on the left side of the strike, and put options are on the right. Each leg is added to the Strategy Builder. 

User may remove any leg using the minus sign to the right of the leg in the Strategy Builder.

If you create a known strategy, for example a Bull Call or a Calendar spread, the strategy is labeled for convenience.

User may adjust the strategy by changing leg from buy to sell and vice versa. The ratio can be adjusted by typing into the Quantity field. Easily add a stock leg to your strategy using the Add Stock Leg feature.

The combination summary and quote is displayed below, indicating the number of legs, the strategy (if known) and the bid/ midpoint and ask prices. The Order Ticket states the price and shows whether the cost is a credit or debit. 

Note the Performance Profile and profit chart below the quote. Depending upon the nature of the combination and number of legs involved, the data displays max loss, max profit and associated breakeven prices. The Performance Profile chart visually displays the trades potential characteristics over a designated price movement for the underlying asset. Use the Max move dropdown to change the data reading displayed on the plot. By default the Profile displays P&L, which is shown here in blue font. The user may alter the profile display through a selection of Greek values by clicking on the label. Note also that the date selector enables the user to view P&L or Greek values on any date through expiration. Scroll down the page to see additional data and news related to the underlying asset.

Once the user has finished adding legs to your order, they click Order Ticket to set up and submit the multi-leg strategy. Here the user may modify any necessary order parameters like order side, quantity, order type etc, before submitting the order.

Resources

IBKR Desktop User Guide